St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-02
THE CRIMSON SCARF.
N----1F.-----3OW old did you say"
49,, sslIs,s tie command
l. lysS Nineteen"
4, \ "And the man?"
4. III ga little older"

/ ~ ss ::S;a 5's a''''..''
4. n GA little older"
The cOmmander-in-
chief pulled his cigar at thoughtful in
tervalS. The war was by twenty-five
years thing of the past, but as head of
a great commercial enterprise military
title still chung to him from out of his
war experience, and he did not dislike
it, for some of his war memories ap-
peared to be his most cherished mental
treasures. So he debated with his cigar
over the two young people whose Senti-
mental rashnesS had brought them into
public notice, and as he debated he
was looking backward over the diverse
panorama of two decades of life, through
the rifted smoke clouds of great re-
belliOn at little drama that seemed
almost dream, but which to him was,
perhaps, the best-remembered incident
of all the five years fight. And when
he told it, half musingiy, the listeners
did not wonder. The ways of Fate are
very diverse, and it sometimes happens
to the least imaginative in the madden
ing crowd that face which is looked
into only for moment is never forgot
ten in all the lengths of the years that
follow. Perhaps it was so with the
the cOmmander-in-chi Perhaps not
In any event nobody dared to ask.
SIN the fall of 1863" he began, 81
was stationed with detachment at
Paint Rock, Ala. We were drawing on
the enemy for supplies-foraging, in
fact. Our crackers and hard tack we
got from Stevenson, but for fodder for
our horses and anything to add sumptu-
BUSINESS to the appearance of the frying
pan we had to depend on the country For
some weeks l had sent out the wagon
train to the east, the southeast, and
creek. The only direction left for in
vestigation was at the west, where, at a
distance of twenty-one miles, was
Huntsville, then the capital of Northern
Alabama, which up to the time of the
war had been wealthy, aristocratic
and fashionable city. Well, one pleas
ant morning sent the wagons across
the creek and followed them with a
guard of twenty men. 1t was reported
from time to time that the country ahead
of US was full of rebel guerrillas, but we
saw no signs of them, and for two
months had no trouble whatever with
any fee es,. .o,,,,. -, : .,.oo,- .,,o -.
took road which wound along the foot
of spur at the Blue Ridge mountains,
which rose green, heavily wooded and
picturesque at our backs. We passed
several small clearings and plantations,
whose log houses were filled with hot
bloeded and hOt-tempered Southern
women, whose evident desire to t1ay us
with their finger-nails rather interfered
with that sweet spirit of hospitality for
which the South is famous. At a dis
lance of seven miles halted the de-
tachment at cool, but SiniSter-looking
place in the road, known to all the
country round as The Cap Gap.
"'The Gap was the entrance to pass
through one of the outlying mountain
spurs. 1t was deep hollow. heavily
wooded. The dense growth of towering
pines and frs grew close to the road
side. The woody spaces were SO filled
with underground and blocked by fallen
trees that as you peered into the dark
rec esses of the forest on either side a
hostile army might have been sheltered
ceive button. | remember the looks
of the place because the first time l saw
it it made me rather uneasy, and the
last time but one that / saw it came
near staying there for good, as did. in
fact, some other poor fellows who were
not so fortunate.
We'll, after a rest, we kept ON, and a
few miles further we came on a planta-
ton of $50 acres, with a large and COM
fOrtable-lOOking residence near the road
side. The wagons had reached there
long before us. They were being rapidly
filled from a row of well-Stored corn
cribs at the back of the house. / had
just gotten off my horse near the door
when two girls came toward me, and if
/ were not telling this story, gentlemen,
| would honestly declare that they were
the two prettiest girls | ever saw in my
life.
They were both tall and slender,
with graceful and womanly figures.
They were dressed in dark-blue calico,
and had no artificial aids to their fresh
young beauty. Their faces were intelli-
gent and full Of resolution, yet marked
by that ShyneSS which belongs to girls
who are well born and bred in compare
tive seclusion. The elder, Ellen, was
dark-eyed and dark-haired. Addie was
seventeen, two years younger than her
sister, and yellOw-haired and blue
eyed blonde The apparition they pre-
sented astonished us. l think all the
men took off their hats instinctlvely.
| know did, And as my hat was real
Mexican sombrero, and matched the
long Mexican spurs that jingled ON my
he els, Twas rather fond of keeping it
on my head.
cit was Ellen who spoke, the other
staying little behind. Sir she said,
in troubled voice, you look like gem
tleman. One OF your men has taken
our guitar. 1t is all we have left, and
1t is great consolation. Will you not
be good enough to have it returned?'
1.-The guitar was returned.to her forth
with as quickly as the man could he
found who had it. She was profuse in
her thanks, and the light in the younger
sisters eyes at the salvation of the in
strument indicated how highly it was
valued. The corn and supplies they
did not appear to grieve over particu-
larly, as prevented any destruction of
the cribs or any unnecessary damage to
Hospitality received in the house. The
family consisted of an old gentleman
named Sunderland, his wife and three
daughters. Sunderland was well-to-do
planter, though too old to take arms.
He was. a doctor by profession and a
Methodist preacher by choice. His
family circle was, in its refinement and
the beauty of the girls, something
charming, particularly to a horse sol
dier who for some years had known
only the roughness of the camp. The
eldest daughter was married, her hus-
band being captain in the rebel army.
The other two were our fair petitioners.
and with them | enjoyed fattering
degree of popularity from the start.'
The commander-in-chief stopped and
gaZed with satisfied smile into the
Alabama of twenty years ago.
"Well," he aid,picking up the thread
of the story, II need only say that their
fate was in my hands, that all is fair i'm
love and war, and that from that time
forth l simply owned the place, corn